[PS4] The Evil Within (Review)

Survival horror.......First game most of us think when hearing that phrase, is Resident Evil.

The Evil Within (TEW) plays very much like Resident Evil 4. The reason for that is because the director for TEW, is none other than Shinji Mikami.

So with that said, the game was getting quite a bit of hype prior, and during it's release. But does it actually live up to that hype? Could it possibly compare to the one great Resident Evil franchise? Continue reading to find out whether the game was a hit, or a miss for survival horror fans.

Plot
Your name is Sebastian Castellanos. You are a detective who is investigating a mass murder at a mental institution.
During your investigation you mean a doctor named Marcelo Jimenez, and a patient name Leslie Withers. You will need the help of them to figure out what has happened at the mental institution.
Without giving away too much of the story, I will just say that the main villain uses psyche to manipulate the minds of others. He can make you see what isn't, or is there.

Gameplay
From the very start you learn that you are a detective, however one of your upgrade abilities is to increase your weapon accuracy. I would think that a detective would be pretty handy with a gun.
With that said, you will want to upgrade your guns accuracy as fast as possible. Aiming in the beginning of the game is pretty bad. So bad, that it made me hate this game pretty quickly. But after doing the upgrades, the game felt much easier to control.

The upgrade system seems to offer too many options in my opinion. This detective seems to lack in every category that a detective shouldn't.
Your stamina is atrocious, your aiming is that of a child, and you seem to have the smallest pockets ever made.
Thankfully all of these are eventually fixed with many upgrades.

Once I reached Chapter 4, I really started to enjoy the game. The first 2 chapters were really a test of my patience, which is unfortunate because there are many people that would write this game off based off those first 2 chapters.

Graphics
Once you boot the game up, you will notice black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. Do not bother going in to your games settings, those bars are not going anywhere. Some say they are there to give the game more of a movie feel, but I think they are there to help improve the frame rate and resolution.
Aside from that, the visuals are not bad. They give you that eerie dark feel that fits the game perfectly. It can be hard to see at times, due to the shrunken screen size. But after a few chapters you get used to it.

So.........with so much negativity, why should I play this game?

Once you upgrade your stats, and get passed the first couple chapters, the game just opens up to you. You feel the tension, you get immersed in the game. You get nervous and scared in ways you wouldn't think possible.
The game is not easy, and eventually becomes a true testament to survival horror.
I just love how much the game feels like Resident Evil 4. In fact, Shinji Mikami added many references to the Resident Evil series within the game.

Overall
The game starts off clumsy, but given enough time, you will find yourself immersed in a great survival horror game. The game is not perfect, but it certainly brings back that loving horrible feeling. And in my opinion, a must play for any survival horror fan.

Most broken pos I hv every spent 60$ on! Nothing works! The stealth all the way to illogical magic matches only 5! I didn't know if I wanted to play stealth. I just gave up and used guns and grenades to trudge to the very end colonial marines is better.

Most broken pos I hv every spent 60$ on! Nothing works! The stealth all the way to illogical magic matches only 5! I didn't know if I wanted to play stealth. I just gave up and used guns and grenades to trudge to the very end colonial marines is better.

I felt the same way until I gave more of a chance. Like I mentioned in the review, once you level up, the game becomes much better. And you can hold more than 5 matches by upgrading.....

Upgrades improve everything. Ammo, accuracy, stamina, matches, damage, ect. The game becomes much more balanced around chapters 4 or 5.

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